Saturday, April 06, 2013

Few things have pleased me as much over the last 6 months as
seeing the way that this site has continued on since I’ve left here as Al has
brought his expertise and writing talent into the fray to grow this site since
he’s assumed stewardship of the site.But
sometimes (actually oftentimes) things come up that take precedence over a simple post
on a Sunday and I’ve been called out of the bullpen…think of it as a LOOGY situation.With Al occupied this weekend (with a wedding…his
own!), I’ve decided to come off of the shuffleboard courts here at Del Boca
Vista and drop a (very quick) Lazy One down because…you know, games are
actually underway.And while very little
can be gleaned from a couple of days worth of games, there have been positive
signs (Ubaldo, with a FANTASTIC piece delving into his recent issues here) and
some negative ones.Certainly the same
concerns that existed at the start of the season – namely the Starting Pitching
(and here is another great piece on the Rays’ continued development of Starting Pitching that stands in stark contrast to the Tribe’s recent past and their current
rotation, where it is unlikely that a player drafted and/or developed by the
Tribe will start a game for the Erie Warriors this year) – persist, but nobody’s
running away and hiding with the AL Central…and certainly not the Tribe.

That all said, a couple of weeks ago, my friend Vince
Grzegorek (correct spelling…ahem, Esquire) at Scene Magazine asked me to pen
one of my “season previews” for him to include in this weekend’s edition, right
next to Vince’s terrific Q & A with Chris Perez.So, without further ado, I’ll direct your eyes here to it and retreat once again into retirement so I can take a look at
the Early Bird menu and figure out what The DiaBride are going to have for
dinner…around 2 PM this “evening”.

With a hearty congrats to Al on his exciting day and with
the knowledge that he’ll be back here soon enough, let’s all just enjoy the
season and Go Tribe.